Kingfisher Book of Planet Earth, The

The publishers invite us in this title to find out ‘how geology and the terrifying forces of nature’ devastate and shape the surface of our planet. The whole book is conceived as a lurid and ultra dramatized version of that extraordinary gradual thing, the evolution of the Earth. Trouble is that when you have gasped in horror at the big bang, trembled in fear at typhoons and tornadoes, and shivered with fright at volcanoes and earthquakes, the really terrifying - and devastating - effects of human evolution upon the planetary surface do not seem to add up to much. And nor does this copiously illustrated, multicoloured ( one whole page of densely packed photo credits) volume. Save your money for something else.